Ari

"If you tell us, we will not understand, that is true. But we will later. Why you left, how you have changed, why you do what you do, it will become comprehensible as we gather more data." Dol-Druth's eyes refocused "It was not so long ago, as we consider things, when we of Dotrae saw everyone else and each other as food. Our memories would live on, our selves would survive, so what did it matter if we ate each other? And others we could not speak to or understand, so it did not seem terribly important if we devoured them also. But then one day we did understand. We reached out our many minds to a world and really tried to contact them. Purely dumb animal curiosity, but it worked. For the first time we saw each other and ourselves as others had seen us for thousands of years." The chair creaked despairingly under the alien's weight. "An anecdote, but approximately four hundred and thirty-one other such efforts have found us allies, resources and information we would have never have obtained otherwise." "It may seem a small thing to you. Pointlessly small. Clicking your palette and twisting your lips and vibrating your chords to a fat alien bureaucrat. But as we recall one of your lonemind scientists, when asked what use his crude aero-buoyancy device had, he replied "What use is a new-born baby?"." "We request that you try."

EDIT: Whoops, nevermind, not yet.

It will take a base Dexterity check(DC15) to finagle the discarded blaster pistol into an improvised lockpick. You can take 20, but that will leave Quantum Shift alone to face the mutated Sentry Agents. Alternatively, you can make a DC10 Will save and DC10+power rank check to resist the Nullify and break free/liquify out of the power-dampening irons. Or sneak away with the gun to do it somewhere less conspicuous (and lower DC)at risk of a later ambush. Or a Bluff/Diplomacy/Intimidate roll to try and get one of the MJ-20 agents to break you free to fight the mutant Sentries.

GM The scene that met his eyes hardly beggared description. To someone who had nearly become an intragalactic gladiator it was more shocking in the mix of familiar and alien. The snowy hillside, air and trees and rugged road still thick with enormous crystals, the pavement suddenly ending several yards away at a flaming wreck smashed into the granite cliff. Among the wreck, in the light of the fires, hideously-warped creatures dimly recognizable as men tore into the metal shell or charged at other men in black uniforms. They were only a few, but they kept spread out and focused fire and dodged and fought admirably, for all that their blazing energy shots mostly just pinged off the shifting skins. Nobody wore any insignia except for a US flag. Around James were pieces of the truck that had imprisoned him and what looked very like a gun. Almost unbelievably. 100% gun. A gun with the safety off and a very full battery.

"We are from Dotrae, the planet, one of the oldest members of the past-empire and present-republic. Lately of Magna-Lor, seat of governance. If some of our questions are not to your sensibilities please pass them by. That itself is relevant data. This sport we have been made to observe many times by the G-...the great Freedom Leaguer Pseudo." Dol-Druth's eyes twitched in their sockets. It wasn't easy to work with a Grue "We understand the rules and how to enforce them." "We greet you, Terrestrial exceptionals, in the name of the Lor and our star-flung siblings!" The Speaker of Dotrae leveled the same unfriendly stare at each of the humans('And an Ellean, a mutant of a primitive strain but those wings...unmistakable') and bowed ponderously, their flesh rippling and billowing aside to achieve this. Rising agan with a trifle more difficulty the Dotrae nodded curtly at Phalanx's assertion "Yes, you and your effect on this planet's society is...is...of..." the alien's brow beetled. Something about this man was familiar... Far away, billions of minds scanned each other's memories. One of them found something in Dol-Druth's, that time he'd drunk that ground-strained slurry and spoken with three humans at the Starface Cofá. One had looked exactly like this Phalanx. ...but even if there weren't even ten billion humans on Earth yet, some of them had to look similar. Dol-Druth shrugged it off "It is of unparalleled importance to our inspection, no other breeding race has such high levels of individual power and thus-but that can wait." "Agreed, juvenile. Very cold. Is this game of some national interest?" Dol-Druth glanced at Kwame "Did none reply directly? Seems odd to just wait and hope."

GM "I only know what the kids tell me, Endeavor, and if they say you're part alien I'm not trying on Miss A's shiny boots to tell them wrong." Leaping off the second-to-last landing, Powers tucked and rolled into a springing leap before the door exiting into the level they needed. The emergency light was disconcertingly unlit, and the hallway was dark. Horatio frowned briefly in the light of his flashlight(taken belatedly off of his belt), but went in and beckoned Endeavor to follow. Elsewhere, there was commotion, running feet. But the previously teeming hallways were bafflingly empty. It was as if the agents had just gone offstage. There was a prickling on the back of Sakurako's neck, and Hannah's voice whispered "Sit tight. I'll be there soon." "Dr. Volk will be in the armory, she was testing something new," arriving without incident at the room duly indicated to be so, Powers reached beside the unresponsive electronic door and with a grunt of effort tugged something free "she'll-whoa! Friend! Powers Rho Quatro Gamma Treis!" with that startled cry and throwing his hands into the air, Powers froze before a short, disheveled woman aiming a gun slender as a finger at him. Snorting, the lab-coated woman nodded and signaled for the two to come in, peering only briefly at Endeavor with curious amusement. "Shut the door, kid. And take a look around." "Endeavour, Dr. Volk, Volk, Endeavour, she knows our enemy. Family in fact." Powers summarized drily, to the woman's taciturn nod. A switch clicked and the lights came on. It was like being in a well-stocked warehouse of death and incredible genius come together. Suits of powered armor, the famous MAX and SUPER-MAX harnesses, were only the largest pieces of equipment visible. Otherwise the racks of sophisticated firearms and other, less destructive gear dominated. There was enough to bury the three without a trace. "So" she was out of shape and shorter even than the younger woman, but AEGIS' Archthinker somehow looked completely in command "What do we need?"

GM Switching to another, less apocalyptic sight was so simple it was almost unnerving. With a blink all that horror vanished. The darkness was replaced with a shining, crystalline vision. Ribbon-like things darted between sparkling towers, fish and whales gamboled in the North Bay, and people floated above the earth with an easy, careless joy. Something in the Wharton Forest sent a million birds scattering into the sky. Then the image shook, a red flash passed over the screen, and the scene blinked. It opened onto a flickering, crackling uncertainty, flashes of a metal room, an inhuman face with staring eyes. But anything clearer was impossible to discern. A deep, growling voice barked out "Hello! Is anyone there? Can anybody hear me? Answer!" the words' curt authority was undercut severely by the tone of fear and desperation. Please, please answer, they seemed to say I don't know what I'll do if you don't "I know you're there! If your heart is not stone, help me!"

There was an explosion of light behind him, and a deep, grating voice rasped "Greetings, Terran!" Almost immediately afterwards a massive, hairless man with beady black eyes, a pair of slender antennae and skin so pale you could trace the veins appeared. Wobbling with a paunch that made them grotesque, the creature stumped closer to Kwame "We are Dol-Druth, Speaking for Dotrae. We intercepted your transmission to the sysweb and wish to offer our impartial service as referee and moderator." Standing with hands clasped behind his back, Dol-Druth glared at the shorter human "Our linked minds provide rapid judgement, our joined psionics grant us power over the physical and mental theatres, and our total unfamiliarity with this contest make us wholly unbiased." This close, the alien's shifting hide was revealed to in reality be letters traced over an enormous suit of iridescent beige. As they transmogrified into English script the Hammer had the pleasure of reading a lengthy title scrolling upside down and sideways. "We will await the other forces. In the meantime, will you please describe yourself? It is a matter of some interplanetary importance." From a suitcase that had somehow been camouflaged against the suit, Dol-Droth extracted a 'page' of light and offered it to Kwame. On it was an interminable questionnaire.

Hell, if you would, please roll Knowledge(Streetwise), Wisdom, Notice and Stealth.

GM Silence. "That much wore of this soon? Je-!" "Don't take the Christ's name in vain, Hamilton." The other voices had sounded young, younger even than James. This one was much older. Had a northern sound to it, definitely not like the rounded and mangled sounds of coastal Jersey. "You're here because you're a threat to national safety and the well-being of law-abiding Americans everywhere. The League might let an alien with doomsday powers in a human host walk the streets, but we won't. As for who we are? That's easy. Patriots." "You can't just show up here and do what you like, alien." This one was young, a little deeper though, echoed funny "you'll see how Lincoln deals...with...urrrrgh...!" "Madison! What's wrong? Your body, what's happening?!" "Oh God, Polk too! All the Sentries!" "Secretary, this is Chief! Stop the transport, stop the-!" Then everything exploded again. Something whippy crashed into the walli behind James, tearing it apart like tissue paper before something else flung the man bodily out of the careening vehicle and into a snowdrift. Far off, in some other universe, there was a deafening explosion and a tortured roar.

I wish to be aggressively unaware of the rules. So the Speaker shall be referee.

Oh good now I can look forward to seeing Citizen get torn apart by Death Magnetic on the morning news Thrusting past the terrible premonition Ishmael offered his hand with a sheepish look "Sorry, I can't say. Kinda prefer to keep it private. Hero name's Salmon, 'cause, you know, running, swimming... And that's pretty much all I can do. Can't drown but can freeze easy enough." "Never been in any place with this many supers before" Ishmael indicated the scattered metas "This what it's like on the East Coast?" the young speedster rubbed the back of his neck "Here, anything super mostly gets covered up or ends up being that Project: Safeguard base up in the Atlases." The base had been one of the few events in either Emerald that got news besides its narrow band of company breakthroughs and scandals or rashes of cryptid/alien sightings. The new government initiative had specifically chosen the opposite coast of the Freedom League, symbolizing their role as an addition to national superhuman defense rather than a replacement. It also wasn't on the southern shore, a very clear sign of its distance from the regional AEGIS capital and the Service's authority. That it was being instated and placed under semi-autonomous leadership prior to the new administration was also symbolic. The symbols were frankly out of control.

"You are doubtless aware of the trial this organization was placed on, as representatives of Earth." Shifting like a settling mountain, the Speaker's eyes glazed over just a little "We and our civilization were not involved, save as audience, but Questor the Judge Eternal seemed satisfied." The alien shrugged expansively, ignoring the audible complaints of his suit "We decided to schedule another overview of your species' major traits, its societal changes, its mental and physical idiosyncrasies. That, to us, is evaluation. Those are what we focus on when trying to answer the question 'should these people join us?'" "We understand there is a misconception that advance in technological sophistication plays a part. That has never concerned us, or any other Lor planet inspector." Supporting himself a little on the table, gingerly so as not to make it tip, Dol-Druth concluded "Again, we wish to understand you. Will you tell us about yourself?"

GM At Buffy's touch the Guardian blinked shut. It opened like an eye, revealing another Freedom City. But this one was a little more unusual. In that is was a shattered ruin. The familiar greens, browns, blues and greys of the seaside city were gone, everything was red, black or white as bone, with a dully orange sky that let in the stars without impediment. Only the skeletons of buildings remained. Skeletons and a faint, far-off flickering where A.S.T.R.O. Labs in their dimension had the building in which they stood. Around the desolate derelict were the footprints of some giant monster, each bigger than Pyramid Plaza. The shriveled trickle that was the South River washed over a skull the size of city hall. Other skeletons, partly-buried in the red sand, could be dimly perceived. One had a rib cage that was too easy to mistake for a mountain range. All was eerily quiet. Still. Nothing but the wind blowing and the soft murmur of the blackened Atlantic. A formerly-overlooked bit of UI blinked: Earth-F (extinct) 4. Kaiju invasion. A dizzying list of other, more attractive options appeared. Echo's senses were burning now. A feeling like unfriendly eyes were staring right at her.

GM Powers' face reilluminated in the flame of a lighter, his one eye burning to put the feeble thing to shame. "I'm alright with following a super's lead here. Not my forte." Like a ghost he slid to the door, capping the lighter as he eased the cedar slab open to glance outside. "Clear, one second." Taking a slim radio from his belt Powers barked "All squads! Defence form Theta! Hasdrubaal only, Hectors standby!" There was no reply, a fact Powers looked a little shaken by. Launching out into the hallways, lit only by dim orange emergency lights, he signaled impatiently for the young heroine to follow him "Armory, this way" "So I only know a little about this 'Hardwire'. She's got a lot of genetic defects and that's apparently led to some ugly choices to stay alive. She's a science villain of some kind, but that's all we've learned, the 'why' is pretty opaque." Powers glanced at Endeavor as they slipped down a flight of stairs, chaotic shouts and blaring noise echoing from somewhere "Nice to know more. Never seemed to use the same stuff twice." The armory was on the Iceberg's second floor, which gave plenty of time for explanations.

Okay so the order is first Spider then Salmon. Then the surprise round will be over and the fight proper begins. Tiff, if you would.

OOC thread for this, Psy Strike gets in a tussle with a soft-spoken noisemaker. @Bisexuhell

GM December 29th, 10.43 PM, 2016 Outside the Long Ladder tavern, Southside, Freedom City "I keep tellin' you, mask, I won't say nonthin'!" Theo Braithwaite, the so-called 'worst informant in Freedom' was certainly living up to his name. As he dangled from Psy Strike's telekinetic grip, his face a mask of terror as four pudgy limbs flailed from a core that resembled an over-the-hill barrel, he'd proclaimed total ignorance of the job going down tonight at the docks under the Atlantis casino. He definitely didn't want to get in any trouble with Garcia, "Big Al" Driogano or his witchy sidekick, and anyway the secret tunnels would stop intruders no matter how many friends she called in, on account of their being reliant on hidden mechanisms that nobody on the wrong side would ever find. And there were like thirty men there anyway, so she'd never deal with it herself. It was days after Christmas, and the few tired-eyed people wandering under the garish lights and tinsel that remained after the massive snowstorm didn't even bother glancing over, except to yell "Shut up, Theo!"

@GamerXZ QS starts with an additional Hero Point for being captured offscreen. Conditions: Bound, Helpless, Obscured(Normal Visual), Nullified(Alien Powers).

OOC thread for this thread. X-Files stuff and maybe some other things WHO KNOWS.

GM January 1st, 2017, 12.05AM On a road deep inside Wharton State Forest... The truck, or whatever it was, jerked and skittered across the thousandth patch of ice. James White of Earth-W 1042005 had an advantage over almost any other life-form, but with a sack over his head, power-nullifying manacles clamped around his wrists and ankles, and a sedative drug coursing through his body those powers were a pretty abstract comfort. Like knowing what that bright, hot thing in the sky is seconds before the meteorite hits you. Around him he could hear the breath of his captors. They were, to a...potentially man, silent, but the catch of their lungs, the easing of armored suits and the rattle of cumbersome metal objects at least gave some idea of what kinds of people would drug a guy at a tavern celebrating New Year's Eve. Suddenly, one spoke "What about the League?" Another "Hm?" "They'll come for him." "The dupe will work long enough. John Adams knows his job. It'll be months before anybody notices and never until they find us." The other grunted skeptically, but lapsed into another long silence. Very thankfully, they hadn't bothered to cover James' ears or mouth with anything more than the sack.

"No idea man, we'll find out later" Salmon brushed off the matter. 'Nobody would want that, any of it, and nobody hired her, so...' All he could he think of was that some out-of-towner wanted to steal it for one of those East Coast super-schemes. As he darted downhill to the waterfront, Ishmael caught flickering glimpses of Devlin, towering over Council Island and the Astoria(why'd we name that after a ghost town at the bottom of Lake Vallee? There wasn't even a bridge back then...)-Megler Bridge. It was impossible to tell the the natural rusted-copper colour from the blue-breen rust that sprawled across the derelict antique. Devlin was history, a Devestoid like the others unleashed against every coast of continental America during the 1960s by Dread Devestous. Up until now, that had been the last real super-action either Emerald City had seen. At least on the surface. And now three superheroes were going to catch two supervillains and keep sensitive data from falling into the wrong hands! Fighting back a grin, Ishmael signaled to the others to follow him to the old dockyard. The trio paused behind some overgrown trees leaning over a drainage ditch, choked with invasive weeds. "This is the place. Bet you she's still here. Sha'ir, whenever you're ready!" The shabby, broken-down warehouse loomed over a gravel parking lot that had long since been overgrown, the chain-link fence surrounding it leaving a gap for the waterline and small docks. On a wall in faded kana Salmon could make out Clover. Whatever they were, they hadn't lasted long in Emerald City. The massive main doors on the loading dock were criss-crossed by boards and sheet metal, the roof sagged and every broken window was boarded up, but there wasn't even graffiti. "Send us in wherever, she won't expect us. Come on, Spider, let's give this kitty a good licking!" Diving through the portal, Ishmael realized only halfway through what he'd said, and as he landed in a roll on the other side his mind raced for a good save. What he saw as he leaped to his feet drove that thoroughly from his mind. A man dressed like the other Kittens stood over Faster Pussycat, her golden hair a tangled mess in the water that stood on the even cement. A pool of soft gray sunlight helpfully illuminated the bloody cut on her cheek and the bruises on her jaw and face. The nigh-bald man looked down at the supervillainess contemptuously, talking to himself in a soft, hissing voice. "All this, for you. They call in a warrior of my skills, just to get rid of a useless interloper like you. Not even worth the power it takes to strike you dead. Goodbye, worm." Raising one leg over the prone supervillain's throat, he angled the heel for a crushing blow...

Ruling nobody has the info needed to answer that very reasonable and pertinent question. Initiative rolls for Emerald Spider and Salmon coming into the warehouse, as they are very opportunely interrupting Jade Spider in his murder attempt. Jade Spider: 22 Salmon: 6 Faster Pussycat: Unconscious Olopi, the warehouse is 200 square feet in a rectangle, surrounded at a distance of thirty feet by a three-sided chain-link fence topped with barbed wire that opens onto the Columbia and Red Rivers. There are entrances on all four sides. Tiff, the ceiling of the warehouse is criss-crossed with a spiderweb of rusting beams, and the floor is covered in a slick uneven pool of ill-smelling water. In a relatively-dry corner is a pile of computer equipment, all of it turned on. The head-height windows are all boarded up, but the windows below the eaves are open to let in floods of pale sunlight. Jade Spider is standing over Faster Pussycat in the middle of the floor, the supervillainess is unconscious. Emerald Spider and Salmon get a surprise round.

May you see many more, Tiff. And may this place continue to give you happiness. Happy day-after-your birthday!

GM Snorting in faint amusement, Powers seated himself, indicating with a gesture he wanted Sakurako to do the same. "Tone it down a notch, Hino. I used to be that way myself, finding a way to make myself the center of the universe by being the biggest screw-up in need of redemption. Doesn't do any good, no matter how humble it sounds. Let's split it 50/50." His face grew more solemn "As for...well, there's no easy way to say this, Hino." There was a short pause. "Well, it was worth a shot. You're not...entirely human." He raised his hands forestallingly "Nothing bad or dangerous, but your genetics, your inner chemistry, it isn't quite on-level with human variations." "I'm sorry you had to find out like this." He looked earnestly at Sakurako "You're part alien." And then the other voice said, crystal clear "Got you, sis" And with a *klk* the room plunged into darkness.